


you're an asshole (but i love you)

by jaeson



Category: Produce 101 (TV), Wanna One (Band)
Genre: M/M, ceo!daniel, fuckboy!daniel, secretary!seongwoo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-10
Updated: 2017-12-10
Packaged: 2019-02-10 08:08:26
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,998
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12907764
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jaeson/pseuds/jaeson
Summary: “I don’t – I am not capable of liking anyone Jisung!” Daniel says, anxiety rushing through him. “How can I like someone? It’s always just one-night stands, meaningless make out sessions. I am not made for liking someone, for being in love with anyone and settling down!"Or: Daniel is a fuckboy CEO who happens to fall in love with his assistant.





	you're an asshole (but i love you)

**Author's Note:**

> hey... this is not beta'd and i also didn't have the time to read this through... i'm so sorry for all the typos/mistakes and hope that it's still kind of enjoyable!

**22 nd of July 2016**

“You’re the new assistant?” Daniel mumbles as he enters his office, voice still hoarse from yesterday night – he had to admit, the club he went to last night had had better music than he had at first thought, which made him sing and yell along to the songs while chucking down bottle after bottle of beer – as he tries to shield his eyes from the sunlight that’s shining down on him through his windows with his hand, he doesn’t need anything to worsen his already bad headache. 

The guy gets up from where he is sitting on one of the chairs in front of his office desk and bows, trying to flatten the crinkles in his cheap skinny jeans and black shirt. 

Daniel squints and looks at him and his mouth shapes into an ‘O’ shape. 

The dude is very handsome, what with his big brown eyes that are hidden by round glasses, cute button like nose and thin lips, his hair is the darkest of blacks and his bangs almost reach his eyes, adding to the obviously cute concept the guy is going for. 

His body is also not bad, he is thin but lean, muscles peeking out from his shirt. 

He might just have to treat Jisung to a meal for his incredible HR skills, he had never gotten a secretary that looked this attractive – which was probably a good thing considering Daniel’s track record. 

“Yes, sir,” the guy says, stepping forward and stretching out his hand. “I am Ong Seongwoo and will be working for you from now on.” 

“Kang Daniel, I hate my assistants from the bottom of my heart and you will be lucky if you don’t end up crying by the end of the week like the last person did,” he replies, ignoring “Seongwoo’s” outstretched hand as he bypasses him and heads straight to his office chair, sighing contently when he settles down and can peacefully close his eyes. “Your work starts now – go get me some aspirin from the pharmacy down the block and a coffee from the shop in the first floor, a plain Americano, you won’t mess that up, right?” 

“I won’t mess up, sir,” Daniel hears Seongwoo respond. 

Daniel watches from the corner of his eyes as Seongwoo sighs and leaves his office. He can’t help but snort to himself, already knowing that the guy is probably not even going to last two weeks with him – and that’s him being generous, if he were to be honest, he expects him to be gone in three days what with his goody two shoes look and shy introduction. 

He takes a random folder from his desk, leans back in his chair and puts it on his face, closing his eyes and immediately dozing off. 

*** 

It feels like it has only been a few seconds when there’s a gentle hand on his shoulders, shaking him awake. 

Daniel grumbles, making the folder fall off and the sunlight shine directly onto his face. He whines sleepily, rubbing his hands all over his face in a futile attempt to feel more wake up. 

When he finally opens his eyes, he is greeted by Seongwoo looking at him with a small smile on his face. His round glasses are a bit further down his nose bridge than they should be and his eyes are curved into crescents, it is way too adorable for Daniel to deal with right now. 

“What do you want?” he scowls, glaring at him. 

“I brought your coffee and aspirin,” Seongwoo chirps. Daniel thinks it’s funny how he is trying to be polite when he is obviously annoyed if the way he has his right hand in a fist and his before genuine smile is a forced one now is anything to go by. “I also decided to bring you some breakfast since you did not seem like you have had anything to eat yet.” 

Daniel looks down at his table to see that Seongwoo had indeed brought everything he had said. 

He takes the coffee in his hands and sniffs at it, pleasantly surprised that it does smell like a simple Americano. His eyes then roam towards the sandwich that Seongwoo brought him and he nods appreciatively. 

It isn’t his favourite but it isn’t something that utterly disgusted him either. 

“Since I did not ask for the food, I’m going to be paying for this from your wage,” Daniel announces, opening the sandwich’s bag and then proceeding to munch on it happily while looking directly at Seongwoo’s eyes with his best shit-eating grin. “Now take a chair and sit down next to me, I need you to read my E-Mails aloud.” 

Seongwoo’s mouth is half open and his eyebrows are furrowed, he looks like he is ready to protest, but then he just clasps his mouth shut and shakes his head before doing exactly what Daniel told him to. 

“With what message should I start?” he asks when he takes a seat beside Daniel, readjusting his glasses as he focuses on the computer screen and surprisingly, manages to open Daniel’s mail without a problem. 

“With the oldest unread one,” he mumbles with a mouth full of food. 

Seongwoo turns his head and glances at him. He looks him up and down before his nose scrunches up and he purses his lips, clicking his tongue in obvious disgust. He, however, doesn’t say anything and just goes back to the e-mails, starting to read them in the most monotone voice Daniel has ever heard. 

The fact that Seongwoo, out of pettiness, reads all of the e-mails like that amuses him more than anything. It’s kind of cute how he tries to subtly fight back even though he has known Daniel for less than an hour. 

**3 rd of November 2016 **

To Daniel’s surprise, Seongwoo lasts way longer than two weeks – and way longer than any other of his secretary had before. 

After the first week, in which Daniel had done his best to annoy the heck out of his secretary and Seongwoo had tried his best, always with a smile on his face, and one too many times of Daniel making him run up and down their building for unnecessary things like paper clips or napkins, Seongwoo had lashed out, cornering him against the wall and threatening to disclose all of Daniel’s sexual escapades he had learnt of in only the past week to the media if Daniel didn’t start treating him like a normal human being. 

Daniel had agreed to that with a small, smug smile - trying to appear calmer than he was - and the both of them had settled down to make a list of rules the both of them had to abide to. 

First, Daniel and Seongwoo both had to treat each other with respect and could both talk informally to one another – Daniel had almost chocked when Seongwoo mentioned that he was older than him. 

Secondly, Daniel could only contact Seongwoo for work and emergencies. 

They added a few more things like Seongwoo always carrying around aspirin or having washed suits prepared at the office for whenever Daniel didn’t make it home at night. 

Their agreement, however, doesn’t mean that Daniel still doesn’t take every chance gets to make Seongwoo mad – there was something just so amusing about how Seongwoo would glare at Daniel from behind his glasses and would squint his eyes before sighing in defeat and doing whatever Daniel wanted him to. 

Just like right now. 

Seongwoo is standing at his doorway, drenched from head to toe with a cup of coffee in his hand, and is looking at Daniel with the angriest of stares while Daniel hides his smile behind his hand. 

“You did this deliberately, didn’t you?” Seongwoo growls, angrily setting the cup down on Daniel’s desk. 

“Did what deliberately?” Daniel questions, innocently looking up at him. 

“You really sent me out, in the middle of a storm, to get you coffee – even though I know you never drink coffee unless you’re extremely hungover, which is obviously not the case today – from a coffee shop down the block – even though you’ve said thousand times before how much you hate their Americano – just because you wanted me to get wet, because I told you in the morning that I didn’t bring an umbrella with me, you’re such an asshole,” Seongwoo rambles in frustration, water droplets dripping from his hair and coat onto the floor, and gestures around wildly. 

“Oh, I would never,” he replies smugly. “And how even dare you call your boss an asshole?” 

“Fire me if you don't like it,” Seongwoo challenges. 

He walks around Daniel’s desk so that he is standing right in front of Daniel and leans down, directly looking Daniel in the eyes. Seongwoo hasn’t been so near to him even since the wall cornering incident and it, somehow, makes Daniel’s heart skip a beat and makes his eyes roam around Seongwoo’s face, staring at his thin lips and his red flushed cheeks because of the cold and his cute nose – he even notices that Seongwoo has three moles, that form a cute triangle, right under his eye and just how pretty Seongwoo really is and – 

Suddenly, Seongwoo is shaking his head around like a wet puppy. Daniel sputters and flails, falling off his chair when he feels water splashing onto his hair. 

“What the fuck?” he wails, using his suit’s sleeve to dry himself. 

When he looks up, he sees Seongwoo staring down at him with the most satisfied grin on his face. 

“Oh no, did I get you wet?” Seongwoo mocks him with the most mischievous glint in his eyes. “My bad, you know I would _never_ do that.” 

Daniel just grits his teeth and sticks his tongue out. 

*** 

One hour after Seongwoo had first arrived, Daniel is still looking at him from where he is sitting on his comfortable chair for an unknown reason. 

Seongwoo is sitting on his desk, right outside of Daniel’s office, his soaked coat hanging on the heater in an attempt for it to get dry. Daniel thought the coat was the only clothing item of Seongwoo’s that had become drenched with the rain but Seongwoo’s shirt and skinny jeans also got wet. Thanks to that they are obviously sticking onto Seongwoo’s skin, it seems to be pretty uncomfortable, and it's also probably what's making his secretary tremble in his seat, hands shaking as he goes through another file of documents. 

It makes Daniel feel unusually guilty so he sighs and gets up. 

He bends down and takes a bag from under his desk – he normally always keeps in there for whenever he feels like going to the gym after work – and takes out one of his oversized hoodies, his skinny jeans and a towel before he gets up and strides towards Seongwoo. 

Daniel throws the towel on top of Seongwoo’s head, making Seongwoo yell in surprise, and putting his clothes on top of Seongwoo’s table. 

“Chill,” he huffs with a laugh and walks even nearer to Seongwoo, his hands coming up to take a hold of the towel and start to rub it all over Seongwoo’s hair, messing it up in the process. 

“What are you doing?” Seongwoo asks, shivering under Daniel’s touch. 

“I am drying your hair, stupid,” Daniel replies. “Why? Do you want me to stop? Take my towel back with me? The clothes I brought too? Okay, no problem – “ 

“N-No, keep doing it, the clothes too,” Seongwoo says quietly. 

Daniel smirks and turns his head so that Seongwoo and his eyes meet. Seongwoo has an indignant look on his face and is biting his lips, head down as Daniel keeps on drying his hair. He feels a little bit less guilty now. 

“What’s the magic word, huh?” Daniel sing-songs. 

“You’re an asshole,” Seongwoo glares at him with a pout. “Please.” 

“Good boy,” Daniel pats Seongwoo’s head with the towel. He finishes drying Seongwoo’s hair off as best as he can and then takes the towel back in his hand. “Now go change.” 

*** 

When Seongwoo comes back from the toilet, wearing all of Daniel’s clothes, Daniel is in the middle of eating his lunch. He almost chokes on his salad when he sees him, walking through the door of his office with sweater paws and his round glasses – the hoodie was already big on Daniel but it is even bigger on Seongwoo, it seems to practically engulf him and if Seongwoo wasn’t Daniel’s secretary, he would tell Seongwoo how absolutely adorable he looks right now. 

“Here is the review of Jaehwan’s report, every mistake I found is noted on the side and there are suggestions for how to make it overall more readable,” Seongwoo announces and places the folder he had in his hand on Daniel’s desk. 

“T-Thank you,” Daniel stutters back. 

“Thanking me? That’s new,” Seongwoo notes and turns back, he seems as if he is about to go back to his desk but he stops at the doorway and turns around, sighing. “Uh… and thank you for the clothes.” 

Daniel can’t do anything but nod. 

**15 th of March 2017 **

“Fake plants?” Seongwoo asks with raised eyebrows. 

“Fake plants,” Daniel repeats with a grin. 

“Are you sure you want fake plants? It’s March, Daniel, you could just wait for a bit and you could just buy real plants,” Seongwoo answers, already taking his jacket and putting it on. 

“I could but I don’t want to,” Daniel says cockily and stands up too, getting the company card out of his wallet. “Buy all the plants you can with only five hundred dollars, make sure it’s enough to cover all of the building with them – we need to seem friendlier for whenever guests come over, do you understand?” 

“You want me to buy all of that on my own?” Seongwoo gapes at him. “Without a car?” 

“Yes, that’s exactly what I want,” Daniel nods, laughing when Seongwoo takes the card and glowers at Daniel. “Oh, and make sure to buy a cute bouquet of flowers, too, okay?” 

“A bouquet? Why?” Seongwoo frowns. 

“I’ve got a hot date tonight, some rich and beautiful daughter of one of my father’s friends, seems to be a very nice girl, maybe I’ll take her home with me tonight if you know what I mean,” Daniel wiggles his eyebrows and Seongwoo looks like he is ready to facepalm. 

“Didn’t you just have a date last night?” Seongwoo mutters. 

“Yes, I did,” Daniel giggles. “With a beautiful man, you should have seen him, designer suit and hair slicked back, he looked very elegant – in bed, however, let me tell you – “ 

“I don’t want to hear it,” Seongwoo interrupts him with a glare. “500 dollars of fake plants, got it.” 

Seongwoo leaves without saying another word and Daniel can’t help but laugh at the idea of Seongwoo, who trips over everything, has no stamina or strength, carrying around ten thousand of plants. 

*** 

Seongwoo is away for almost six hours. 

In that time Daniel has three meetings – one of them with Sungwoon and Jaehwan, which meant that the normally boring time was filled with laughing about how head over heels Jaehwan was for their accountant, Sewoon, and Sungwoon telling Daniel all about his latest sex escapades – and has to write two reports and answer three complaints of their business partners. 

It’s safe to say he is exhausted and only wants to go back home and sleep for the next decade but when he sees Seongwoo – panting, red faced and looking like he is ready to pass out, Daniel can’t help but find it hilarious, the tiredness immediately seeping out of his body. 

“I… hate… you,” Seongwoo says as soon as he comes in, hands on his knees as he bends down and coughs. 

“Now, now, is that a way to talk to your boss?” Seongwoo doesn’t respond, just keeps on coughing – it would worry Daniel, really, but he just doesn’t have the time to be concerned when he is crying from laughing too much. “Where… Where are my plants?” 

“All… over… the office, Guanlin is bringing up the last ones,” Seongwoo answers, standing up straight now and leaning on the floor. “The bouquet is there, too.” 

“Nice,” Daniel giggles. “Now, prepare for an all-nighter, Woojin didn’t finish his presentation and we need to make up for it, the clients are coming tomorrow morning to look at our proposal for their next advertisement and we have got nothing.” 

“With ‘we’, you mean me, right?” Seongwoo asks, voice hoarse. 

“Exactly, good that you already know,” Daniel smiles smugly. 

*** 

“Here is your bouquet,” Seongwoo says a few minutes later, a beautiful mix of sky blue and pastel pink flowers in his hands. Normally, Seongwoo never smiles in the office unless he is either hanging out with his friends during lunch or when he annoys Daniel, but he is all heart eyes on the flowers and Daniel just itches to smile, too. “I picked my favourite, I hope the girl likes it.” 

“Just leave it on the couch,” Daniel gestures to the furniture. 

“Sure.” 

Seongwoo does as he is told and Daniel watches him put the flowers down. His eyes linger on them a little bit more than they should before he shakes his head and leaves the office. 

He glances at the bouquet too, then at Seongwoo who is already sitting on his chair again, head buried in the documents as he types away on his computer. 

*** 

Daniel leaves the company at 8 p.m. and arrives at the location for his date five minutes late. When the waiter directs him to the table he reserved, there is already a beautiful woman sitting there in a plain black dress and Daniel smirks. 

“Hello, I’m Kang Daniel,” he puts on his most charming smile. 

The girl lights up and responds, saying her name is Soohyun. They talk for a bit, mostly about their respective father’s company and their own jobs – Daniel can see how she lights up when he mentions he is the CEO of his own company and thus mostly independent from his father but he can also see the way she seems not to really be interested in that after talking about it for more than ten minutes, instead eyeing Daniel up and down and licking her lips. 

“Now, Soohyun, you’re a really nice girl and I like you a lot, would love to keep talking to you,” he smiles, propping his chin on his hands. “Why don’t we take this back to my apartment, huh?” 

He feels proud at the way she doesn’t even bat an eyelash and immediately agrees to his request. Daniel pays for her dinner with his mother’s credit card and then they head out to Daniel’s car. He opens the door of his car for her and she smiles at him thankfully. 

“Oh, what are those flowers?” she asks when Daniel also takes a seat on the other side. “Were these for me?” 

“Yeah, I forgot about them, sorry,” he grins but suddenly something feels weird – a bit out of place. 

Daniel doesn’t really know what it is but somehow, for some stupid unknown reason, as soon as she takes the bouquet and thanks him, he cannot stop thinking about Seongwoo, or what he is doing right now, how he had eyed the flowers with so much happiness. 

He ignores the niggling feeling at the back of his head about checking up on Seongwoo - or saying that he lied, that those flowers were not intended for her - , or at least tries to. The feeling gets easier to avoid when Soohyun rests her hand pretty far up his thigh, massaging softly as he drives. 

**16 th of March 2017**

“Seongwoo?” Daniel calls out as he enters the office the next morning. 

Daniel had spent the night with the girl- It had been easy to avoid thinking about Seongwoo and the bouquet when she needily kissed him and pressed herself flush against Daniel’s chest. 

As soon as he woke up, however, he felt panic and guilt spread all over his body without a reason – he had let Seongwoo do all-nighters before, it was nothing new – and he decided to go for work a little bit earlier under the excuse that he needed to avoid the awkward morning with Soohyun – Sooyeon? – anyways. 

“Seongwoo, are you here?” he calls out again but gets no response. 

He notices that all the lights are out except the ones on Seongwoo’s desk so he turns them on, blinking a few times to let his eyes readjust to the new brightness, and heads towards Seongwoo. 

When he catches sight of Seongwoo, finally, he cannot help but sigh in relief. Seongwoo is sitting in his chair, head resting on his desk with different papers and prints surrounding him - it’s kind of endearing. 

His hand reaches out automatically to card through Seongwoo’s hair, smiling at how soft it feels. Seongwoo rouses at his touch, whining in his sleep before his features go lax again. He stops after a while, feeling like it’s inappropriate – and also pretty creepy, Seongwoo would probably never let him live it down if he woke up and saw him like that – and takes his jacket off, putting it on Seongwoo instead. Seongwoo unconsciously snuggles up to it and Daniel grins in satisfaction. 

He moves away from Seongwoo just in time because only seconds after, Jisung is coming into the office. Jisung spots him and comes closer, raising an eyebrow when he sees that Seongwoo is sleeping. 

“What is he –?” Jisung starts to ask but Daniel clamps a hand over his mouth, making Jisung squeal quietly in surprise. 

“I made him stay up all night, let him sleep,” he whispers in Jisung’s ear and pulls his hand back down. 

“I’ve never seen you taking care of your secretaries before,” Jisung looks at him knowingly and Daniel just stares back at him questioningly. “Anyways, I’m glad you’re here early we need you down in HR, need to talk about who we need to let go of and if we need new employees in other departments.” 

“Sure, whatever you want,” Daniel nods and hurriedly leads Jisung back to the elevator. 

He glances at Seongwoo, who is still peacefully sleeping, one last time before Jisung distracts him by questioning him about his night. 

**30 th of April 2017**

Seongwoo walks into his office and brings him lunch, his favourite, it’s nothing unusual, he always does that but Daniel notices, out of the blue, that something has changed. 

Not only does Seongwoo now bring him dessert too – a nice little pack of Haribo gummies – but he also smiles at him as he leaves to go back to his own work. 

It’s weird because they don’t do that, or at least they didn’t use to. 

He grabs his lunch and looks at it suspiciously. His Chinese take out seems normal and since the packet of jellies is sealed, he guesses those should be normal too. 

While eating he ponders about it for a while and realizes, that Seongwoo is not the only one that has changed over the past weeks. Ever since he felt guilty about those flowers and Seongwoo staying at the office the whole night, Daniel has made sure to always let Seongwoo go home on time, doing the all-nighters himself or making the people that messed up do them. He has also stopped sending Seongwoo on stupid, useless errands and has even gone as far as to getting his own coffee in the morning. 

Daniel frowns at himself – being nice or knowing how to treat his assistants like human beings was never his forte, maybe he has gotten too used to Seongwoo now that he has actually lasted as Daniel's secretary and assistant for almost a year. 

Just as he is wondering whether he should keep it up or go back to his past ways, Seongwoo opens the door again, stepping in with a small, shy smile – and okay, that is Weird, with a capital W. 

“I forgot to give you something,” Seongwoo readjusts his glasses as he talks. 

Daniel notices he has Daniel’s jacket from a month or so ago in his hands and he hums when Seongwoo puts it on Daniel’s couch, softly caressing it and straightening it out carefully. He expects Seongwoo to go back but he instead heads towards Daniel’s desk and places a folder on it. 

“Oh, what is that?” Daniel asks, curiously opening it. 

“It’s the presentation for your sponsors meeting tomorrow, you said you’d have to stay up all night to finish it so I did it at home yesterday,” Seongwoo says casually but Daniel can see his ears are bright red. “You can revise it and change it if you want.” 

“Uh… Thanks?” 

“Sure, if you need _anything_ , call me up,” Seongwoo replies with a grin and turns around. 

Somehow, Daniel feels a blush spread all over his face and he can’t help but giggle before taking another bite of his steak. Then, when he notices what he had just done, he does a double-take. He puts his steak down and gets his phone out. 

“Sungwoon, we need to go out tonight,” Daniel announces as soon as Sungwoon picks up. 

“But it’s Wednesday? We’ve got work tomorrow, dude,” Sungwoon replies, sounding skeptical. 

Daniel looks at Seongwoo, sitting on his desk and typing, hand coming up to readjust his glasses once again, as he says, “I’m treating tonight, will you come or not? I need a good hook-up.” 

"You're treating?" Sungwoon asks and Daniel replies with a hum. "I'll call Jaehwan up, too." 

**8 th of June 2017**

“Daniel?” Seongwoo inquires from the other side of the line, Daniel feels his hands tremble as he crouches down on the floor, wearily looking around as he holds on tightly to Jisung. 

“I – I need your help, I didn’t know who to call and – and we stated in the rules that – that I can call you in emergencies, right? I really, really need your help, please – I… I don’t know what to do. Jisung and I – we are in trouble, Seongwoo, please – “ 

“Hey, it’s alright, I’m here, I will help you out, what’s up?” Daniel can hear some rustling of sheets as he looks at the wound on the side of Jisung’s head. 

“We got into a fight – in a club, well, I did and Jisung, he apologized for me but they – they punched him and – and he is bleeding and I can’t drive – I drank, you know? And Jisung, he seems to be okay but – but it’s a lot of blood,” he rambles, inspecting Jisung’s wound again. 

“Text me the address, okay?” Seongwoo asks. “Is Jisung awake? He didn’t pass out, right?” 

“N-No, he is awake, just a little bit dazed, I think,” Daniel responds, squeezing Jisung’s hand, eliciting a whine from the older boy. “Please hurry up.” 

“I will be there soon, I promise,” Seongwoo answers with the gentlest of voices. 

He texts Seongwoo the address and goes back to looking at Jisung, who slumps even more against Daniel’s chest and begins to talk about company matters of all things. 

*** 

It doesn’t take long for Seongwoo to arrive, stepping out of a taxi in a plain white shirt and some sweats and carrying a tiny first aid kit. 

“Hey,” he calls out, waving frantically until Seongwoo spots them at the back of the alley they were sitting in. “Thank you for coming, I am so sorry to call you like this, I know these are not your working hours and that you probably had much better things to do – “ 

“Don’t worry, it’s okay,” Seongwoo sends him the tiniest of smiles as he squats down to look at Jisung. “Does it hurt a lot?” 

“Nope,” Jisung responds with a small giggle. 

“I thought you’d be sitting in a pool of Jisung’s blood but it’s actually not that much,” Seongwoo smiles reassuringly at Daniel and it helps him calm down immediately. He opens the first aid kit and then cradles Jisung’s head gently, wiping away the blood with a cloth. “The injury is really nothing, the blood is way more than the damage. I’ll put on a bandage and then Minhyun will pick him up, drive him up to the nearest hospital to get it checked out professionally.” 

“Hwang Minhyun, Jisung’s assistant?” Daniel asks. 

“Yeah, he was staying over at my place today, some after work drinks, I told him to be on standby to see if I need him to help me out,” Seongwoo smiles. “Figured Jisung would find it better if Minhyun takes care of him instead of me. Are you okay though?” 

“I think so,” Daniel nods and just watches as Seongwoo pulls out his phone and calls Minhyun, quickly telling him the address and where they are exactly. 

“Why did you get in a fight anyway?” Seongwoo asks as he rummages around the kit. 

“I was flirting with a girl, didn’t know she had a boyfriend, you know? And then this dude comes over and starts insulting me and Jisung and I just got so angry… Jisung tried to apologize but the dude didn’t listen and just punched him, made his head crash against the counter,” Daniel told him, his heartrate picking up while he recounts what happened. 

“Knew your fuckboy tendencies would get you hurt one day,” Seongwoo smirks at him in an attempt of starting some playful banter but Daniel can only manage a strained smile. “Stop worrying, will you?” 

Seongwoo then changes the topic to what Minhyun and him had for dinner – some steak and potatoes, Minhyun had cooked it and it was really good apparently – and how the movie they watched was super boring and Seongwoo would never listen again to Minhyun when he wants to choose a movie. He is talking about how much he detests stupid love declarations in public now because of that movie when another taxi stops in front of them, Minhyun stepping out and running over to them, his hand lingering on Seongwoo’s shoulder for a second before he caresses Jisung’s cheek with it instead. 

“Oh, hello Minhyun!” Jisung chirps happily. 

“Hey, the taxi is waiting, will you come with me?” Minhyun asks softly and Jisung tries to nod, immediately whimpering in pain though when it starts to hurt. “Don’t move your head too much yeah?” 

“Okay,” Jisung agrees and Minhyun helps him stand up. 

Daniel tries to do the same but his legs are wobbly and he would have fallen back onto the floor if not for Seongwoo swooping in and holding onto his waist tightly, his eyebrows furrowing in concern. 

Minhyun goes away as fast as he had come, a hand on Jisung’s back as he guides him to the taxi. 

“They’re cute, right?” Seongwoo points out, his arm tightening around Daniel as Daniel nods in agreement. “Are you sure you’re okay though? You seem a little unsteady on your feet.” 

“I think so,” he breathes out. 

Seongwoo lets go of him and nods. 

“Want me to drive you home? I’ll get a taxi home from there after I make sure you’re fine,” Seongwoo asks. 

“C-Can I maybe stay over at yours instead?” Daniel worries at his lips – he knows he is taking it too far, Seongwoo and him have only known each other from work, as assistant and boss, never hanging out besides that but he really doesn’t feel like staying alone tonight. 

Bar fights are nothing new to him, he has heard of them and seen them before but the guilt of involving Jisung and hurting him is eating him up alive and he knows better than to trust himself to be alone. 

“Sure, hand me your keys,” Seongwoo answers without hesitation and Daniel feels so thankful it almost makes him cry. 

He leads the way to his car, Seongwoo walking quietly behind him. They get in without saying a word and Daniel feels alleviated as soon as he is sitting down and Seongwoo is driving away from that fucked up alley. Seongwoo turns the radio on and hums along to an old Korean ballad, Daniel concentrates on the sound of it and lets his eyes fall close and his breathing even out. 

*** 

“Hey, wake up!” 

Daniel startles when he opens his eyes and sees Seongwoo’s face right in front of him. He is looking down at Daniel with a gentle smile as he taps his shoulder and helps him out of the car. 

“I can do it myself,” Daniel huffs – because he can, it’s not like he was the one who got hurt today. 

“Oh, I know that,” Seongwoo replies while locking Daniel’s car. “I just thought I’d be nice for once but if you don’t want that, sure!” 

Daniel mocks him by pulling an ugly face and Seongwoo giggles, catching up to Daniel and leading him to an old looking apartment building. When they step into the entrance, Daniel notices that it doesn’t have an elevator and groans but Seongwoo is fast and reassures Daniel, when he notices Daniel’s pout, by telling him that his apartment is only on the second floor. 

They climb up the stairs in less than a minute and when they arrive at Seongwoo’s door, Seongwoo is already panting. 

“Your stamina is terrible,” Daniel points out with a small smile. 

“Oh, you’re smiling, what a relief,” Seongwoo replies, completely ignoring Daniel’s remark to instead beam at Daniel with the cutest grin, his crooked teeth peeking out. Daniel feels himself blush at the way Seongwoo pats him on the shoulder before opening his door. “Welcome to my crib!” 

“Are we on MTV or something?” Daniel says as he tries to play his nervousness and blush off. 

“Nah, for that I would need a much bigger apartment,” Seongwoo replies. 

Daniel looks around and practically can’t hold back a smile at just how Seongwoo it seems to be. The house is pretty clean and is filled with furniture you’d normally only see in a hipster café – bar stools, a cute wooden table, comfortable vintage armchairs and a large fluffy looking couch. 

It might be small – way smaller than Daniel’s own house – but it also feels much more like a home. 

“You can sleep in my bed, I’ll take the couch, had everything set up that way anyway,” Seongwoo suggests. 

“Thanks.” 

Daniel stands awkwardly in the middle of the room until Seongwoo takes mercy on him and takes one of his hands into his, leading him to the room on the right, and makes him sit down on the bed as he opens his closet and sticks his head in. After a few seconds he closes it again and hands Daniel some clothes while scratching his chin with an apologetic look. 

“I’m sorry, I’m not sure if these will fit but they’re the biggest I have so…” Seongwoo apologizes and Daniel is quick to shake his head, telling Seongwoo it’s fine. “Good night, if you need anything, I’ll be in the living room.” 

“Good night,” Daniel says back with a small smile. 

*** 

He tosses and turns in Seongwoo’s bed even hours afterwards. 

Daniel feels anxiety thrumming through his body, not letting him fully fall asleep, and he sighs as he, once again, changes his position. He pulls at the sleeves of Seongwoo’s sweatshirt so that they go a bit past his fingertips and brings them up to cover his face. 

He takes a deep breathe and gets a whiff of, what Daniel assumes is, Seongwoo’s scent – he recognizes it as a mix between freshly washed clothes and vanilla. 

It calms him down, or at least distracts him, so he buries his nose deeper into the soft fabric and closes his eyes. 

**9 th of June**

Daniel, surprisingly, doesn’t sleep all that badly once he actually falls asleep. 

He still groans though when Seongwoo is calling out for him, feeling like he had only slept for an hour. Daniel yells something back about five more minutes because he is way too tired to get up now but Seongwoo doesn’t let him have those, instead storming into the room and yanking the blanket off of Daniel’s body. 

“If you want to have breakfast before going to work, you better get up,” Seongwoo warns. 

“I can just make you buy me some when we arrive,” Daniel replies, hiding himself behind a pillow. 

“Oh? Okay, sure, I’ll eat the omelet I made myself then, have fun in bed, trying to figure out how to get to work once I steal your car to drive there today,” Seongwoo threatens and it doesn’t take Daniel more than one second to be up and heading to the kitchen, knowing very well that Seongwoo would be capable of doing just that. 

“The omelet better be worth it,” he grumbles as he takes a seat and looks at the fully decked out table – there is not only an omelet but also some stew and a few side dishes and Daniel can’t help but gape. “This looks good.” 

“There’s no time to appreciate my amateur cooking, eat up, we’ve got ten minutes so we can get ready and arrive there to check up on Jisung before the official work hours start,” Seongwoo says. 

“Jisung…” Daniel’s head lowers automatically at his friend’s name. 

“Don’t worry, he is fine,” Seongwoo reaches over the desk and pats his head gently. Automatically Daniel leans into the touch, enjoying how nice it feels. “Minhyun stayed with him and he only got like one stitch or something.” 

“Really? That’s good,” Daniel smiles and when Seongwoo gestures at him to eat, he finally starts to dig in, appreciating the taste of a homemade meal. 

“Yeah, we can get him a fruit basket or something on the way to work,” Seongwoo reassures him while munching on the omelet, cheeks inflated cutely, making him look like a chipmunk. 

“That would be great,” he smiles and takes another mouthful of food. 

*** 

“Why are your hands trembling?” Seongwoo questions, putting a hand on top of Daniel’s as they enter the company’s building and walk over to the elevator. “Dude, relax.” 

“Dude?” Daniel asks in mock offense. “I’m not your dude, I’m your CEO and very respected boss.” 

“Okay, _sir_ , why are your hands shaking so much?” 

“I feel guilty, like, what if it’s worse than Minhyun said it was? What if he actually looks super bad?” Daniel replies as he pushes the button to Jisung’s floor. 

“He is fine,” Seongwoo simply states and removes his hand. “I promise he is doing good, now go in there and give him this beautiful fruit basket, will you? I will start with work.” 

“You’re not coming?” Daniel’s eyes widen. 

“Of course not, got nothing to apologize for, good luck!” Seongwoo pushes him out as soon as the doors open and he waves at him with the most shit-eating grin Daniel has ever seen as they close back up. “Bye!” 

Daniel curses quietly and slowly approaches Jisung’s office. Even from outside, he can hear Jisung laughing hysterically, it relives his guilt just a little bit. He knocks on the door and then opens it, greeting Jisung and Minhyun with a small wave. 

Jisung has a little band-aid on his forehead but looks absolutely fine as he smiles brightly at Daniel. 

“Is this precious baby for me?” he inquires while pointing at the basket. 

“Oh yeah, Seongwoo and I bought it on the way here, I wanted to apologize for – for yesterday,” he admits while placing the item on top of Jisung’s desk. “I’m sorry.” 

“This is the first time I’ve ever heard you apologize,” Jisung squeals happily. “This is so nice. I need to give Seongwoo a raise – oh! Or maybe buy him an apartment with the company’s card, he deserves it! Minhyun, please get the card – “ 

“Jisung!” Daniel protests. 

“What, what? Are you getting jealous because I’m talking about your boyfriend making you a better person?” Jisung teases. 

“He is _not_ my boyfriend,” Daniel denies. “I can’t believe I got you a present and apologized and this is your reaction to it. This is why I don’t do nice things.” 

“Don’t lie to yourself, you know you’re only an overgrown puppy pretending to be a badass bitch,” Jisung laughs. “Don’t you think so too, Minhyun?” 

“Definitely,” Minhyun agrees and his eyes crinkle into a smile. “Seongwoo thinks Daniel has become nicer, too.” 

Daniel feels warmth spread across his cheeks and he really can’t believe that he is blushing just because of Minhyun mentioning Seongwoo thinking he is, out of all things, nice. 

“Whatever, I am going, clearly should not have been worried about you,” he grumbles. 

The way both Jisung and Minhyun tease him about his blush and their giggling haunts him for the rest of his shift. Seongwoo’s proud smiles throughout the day – and how he got Daniel a piece of cake as dessert today –, however, make it easier to forget about the two older guys' teasing. 

**15 th of August 2017 **

Daniel bangs his head against the table – he has done this head banging into his table thing before, always when he knows that he is about to have an all-nighter all alone in the office, but he had maybe taken this particular head bang a little too far today, he bangged it so hard he just had to yelp out in pain afterwards. 

Seongwoo scrambles from his seat and enters the room, practically running towards him and cupping his cheeks, worriedly looking at Daniel. 

“What the fuck did you do?” Seongwoo asks, huffing a laugh when Daniel glares at him. 

“I was frustrated and kind of just hit my head a little bit too hard on the table,” he replies, avoiding Seongwoo’s eyes as Seongwoo laughs at him. 

“You’re stupid,” he just says in response to Daniel. “Do you think you will need ice or something?” 

Daniel mouths a “no” and Seongwoo nods in response but still doesn’t let go of Daniel’s face, eyes still trained on the probably red spot on Daniel’s forehead. He almost forgets how to breathe when Seongwoo’s face comes even closer to him. 

“It’s really red though,” Seongwoo mutters and Daniel can feel his minty breath on his skin and Seongwoo looks so much better from up close, his eyes a beautiful shade of brown and his nose looking super cute too. The proximity and Seongwoo's beautiful visuals make him gulp out of nervousness, his heart racing in his chest. 

Seongwoo seems to notice how close they are too by the way his eyes widen comically and he starts to gape as he backs away. Daniel doesn’t say anything, nor does Seongwoo as they just stare at each other for a while. 

“Ah, uh, do you want to come over tonight?” Seongwoo suddenly blurts out. 

“I would love to but… but I’ve got to stay up all night, tomorrow I have a very important meeting with my father to talk about him sponsoring us for the next two years again and I haven’t even started to prepare the folder or presentation for him and his associates,” Daniel sighs, now feeling even more bitter about having to stay up. 

“I know,” Seongwoo smiles at him. “That’s why I asked. We can grab dinner and work from home, that’s more comfortable anyway.” 

“You don’t have to help me, you know that, right?” Daniel replies. 

“Daniel, I literally get paid to help you,” Seongwoo laughs. “If you don’t want to come, you don’t have to make up excuses, you can just say so.” 

“I do want to come, though,” Daniel reassures him. “But let’s do it at my house instead, I need to look good tomorrow and I can’t be wearing an already worn suit.” 

“Okay, sure,” Seongwoo agrees. “See you later then.” 

*** 

Seongwoo is knocking on Daniel’s office door at 8’oclock on the dot. Daniel smiles and gets up immediately, having already prepared himself to leave five minutes ago. He catches up on Seongwoo and they go down while chatting about the latest gossip – apparently Jaehwan finally asked Sewoon out and even succeeded, Seongwoo laughs while telling him how Jaehwan had called him at 3 a.m. that day and rambled on and on about how he couldn’t believe it. 

In the car, Seongwoo turns on the radio again and sings along to the music. Daniel joins him a little bit later on too, when a song he knows starts to play and Seongwoo smiles as he hypes him up when he starts rapping too. 

He is a little bit disappointed when they arrive to his apartment building, wanting to treasure the moment more and sing with Seongwoo a little longer. It feels nice to see how their dynamic has changed so fast and suddenly, Daniel had never had many friends or people he considered were close to him but Seongwoo just made it really difficult for Daniel not to like him, especially when he is singing and he looks like the happiest person alive. 

“Wow,” Seongwoo gapes when he enters Daniel’s apartment. “This is huge! Your living room is bigger than my whole apartment…” 

“But your apartment is better,” Daniel mumbles. “What do you want to order for dinner?” 

Seongwoo wanders around his apartment, taking in everything like a curious kitten and Daniel can’t help but laugh when he sees him plopping down onto the couch and moaning when he notices how comfortable it is. 

“Very good choice to come to your house, never leaving again,” Seongwoo giggles. “Uh, pizza? Or is that too mediocre for your luxurious house?” 

“Pizza is good,” Daniel laughs. “While I call, can you please go into the third door from the left and get the files that are on top of the desk? We will need those tonight.” 

Seongwoo gets up and does as he is told. Daniel watches him with a smile as he bounces to the office and then comes back, curiously opening the file and quickly scanning them, he sees Daniel’s laptop, which they had brought from the office, lying right beside where Daniel is standing and goes to get it, tapping Daniel on the shoulder on his way. 

When Daniel is done with ordering, they settle in for the night – Daniel borrowing Seongwoo some sweats and changing his clothes himself too and sitting down on the couch, Seongwoo typing on the laptop while Daniel tells him what to he has to write. 

Sometimes, Daniel gets too distracted by looking at Seongwoo because for some reason he likes how his clothes look on him, likes the way his normally styled hair is all messy as he playfully teases Daniel when he mispronounces a word again or when the pizza finally arrives and he munches on it happily while working. 

They spend most of the night like that, working through file after file and writing a full-fletched report of the company’s earning in the past few years and creating a presentation as to why Daniel’s father should invest again. 

“We finished!” Seongwoo cheers at 4 a.m. “And we will get some sleep, too!” 

“Or… we could watch a movie or show on Netflix and regret all of our life choices while working tomorrow,” Daniel suggests, not really feeling like going to bed just yet. “I think I even have popcorn in one of the drawers somewhere.” 

“Do you have a fluffy blanket too?” Seongwoo asks, putting the laptop on top of Daniel’s coffee table and stretching in his seat, his toes wiggling. 

“Of course,” Daniel laughs and gets up to retrieve one from his bedroom, he spots a baby blue blanket, the one he always uses whenever he feels lonely and needs to cuddle something. “Do you like this one?” 

“It’s perfect,” Seongwoo replies while making grabby hands. 

Daniel laughs and throws it at him. Seongwoo catches it easily and pulls it all over himself while Daniel takes the remote of his TV and puts on Netflix. He isn’t sure what to play but when Seongwoo silently cheers when Stranger Things comes up on screen, he decides to watch that immediately. 

“Do you like it that much?” Daniel inquires and Seongwoo nods fervently. 

“Of course, haven’t you seen it?” Seongwoo responds and Daniel shakes his head as he sits down on the couch. “That is so not good, you need to watch it, the whole thing.” 

“But only if you share the blanket, my feet are cold,” Daniel challenges and Seongwoo soon gives in, letting him slip under the blankets too. He snuggles closer to Seongwoo, too, just because he is _freezing_ , really. “I’m not getting up to make the popcorn anymore. Too warm in here.” 

“Okay,” Seongwoo pouts but doesn’t say anything much, engrossed in the episode already. Daniel turns back to look at the screen but Seongwoo’s voice makes him look back again. “Is this how you get all your girls and guys? Invite them in for a movie and popcorn before getting them to do other things?” 

“That would imply that I’m trying to get it on with you too,” Daniel smirks when Seongwoo starts to blush. 

“I’m too tired for this disrespect,” Seongwoo pouts. “Let’s just watch the show.” 

And they do watch it, indeed. They come as far as to the third episode before Seongwoo’s head falls on top of Daniel’s shoulder, his breath fanning Daniel’s neck and making goosebumps appear all over his body. He tries to look down at Seongwoo but he can’t, too afraid that he will wake him up if he actually does move his head. 

He keeps on watching the show, overly aware of where Seongwoo is lying, and wondering why the hell his heart keeps on hammering against his chest. 

Over the course of the fourth episode, he starts to yawn too but he fights his sleep and instead searches around for Seongwoo’s hand under the covers, intertwining their fingers with each other and giggling quietly at how it makes his heart speed up even more in his chest, he feels like some silly teenager with a crush. 

He smiles to himself as he squeezes Seongwoo’s hand and relaxes into the couch, careful not to wake Seongwoo up. 

*** 

“What hour is it?” is the first thing Seongwoo says when he wakes up. 

He doesn’t move away from Daniel though, just moves closer, burying his nose in the crook of Daniel’s neck and squeezing his hand as he stretches his feet. 

“About 7 in the morning? I was about to wake you up, anyway,” Daniel says. 

“Did you stay up the whole night?” he shivers when he feels Seongwoo’s lips brush against the skin of his neck. “You should have slept, I bet you’ll have enormous dark circles today.” 

“It’s okay, I’ll just put some make-up on and nobody will notice,” Daniel reassures him. 

Seongwoo moves away slowly, all of a sudden, and Daniel has to keep himself from whining at the loss of contact. He sees how Seongwoo’s cheeks become pinkish when he realizes in what position they were in – it only makes him look even more endearing. 

“Uh… We should prepare for your meeting, I’ll drive you,” Seongwoo mumbles almost to himself and squeezes Daniel’s hand before he pulls away. “Do you have any food here?” 

“Try your luck, maybe my mom went shopping for me again,” Daniel sighs and gets up. 

*** 

When he comes out of the shower, already fully dressed, Seongwoo still is in his shirt and setting the table. Daniel smells the aroma of freshly made stir fried rice and he smiles, loving how this morning feels so much livelier than his mornings normally are, how it feels less lonely when Seongwoo is there with him. 

“Come on, eat up while I change back into my clothes,” Seongwoo ushers him. 

“Aren’t you eating?” Daniel blurts out. 

“I am, don’t worry, I eat fast and it won’t take that much time,” Seongwoo waves him off. 

“But won’t you get indigestion then?” 

“Stop worrying and start to eat,” Seongwoo laughs and closes the door of Daniel’s bedroom behind himself. 

*** 

“You’ve got this!” Seongwoo cheers for him as he steps out of the car. “Good luck!” 

Daniel looks up at the building in front of him and feels himself start to tense up. He waves goodbye to Seongwoo before he strides into his father’s company and is guided to the meeting room. Everyone is already there when he comes in so he bows and shakes all of their hands, hugging his father before he sets up his laptop and starts the presentation. 

He has to admit it’s one of the best ones he has ever made – Seongwoo’s detailed work helped him a lot – and the associates and his father seem to be pretty proud and ready to invest at the end of it. 

“We will definitely invest,” the man to the right of his father says and Daniel smiles gratefully. 

“That we will,” his father nods. “But under one condition, son.” 

“Whatever it is, I will do it,” he responds. 

“On the 25th go on a date with our business’ partners daughter, yeah? He has been trying to set her up for a long time and he begged me for this favor,” he tells him. “I know you can be a charmer, just take her out to have a good time and we will be fine, the investment will be in your bank account the day after your date.” 

“Of course, I will do that.” 

**24 th of August 2017**

“Hey Daniel,” Seongwoo greets him with a grin when he comes through the door of his office. “I wanted to ask you something.” 

“Yeah, ask,” he answers with a smile while looking up from some files. 

“Tomorrow… I wanted to ask you if you wanted to grab dinner with me,” Seongwoo asks and Daniel winces. “Like… just the two of us.” 

“Does it have to be tomorrow?” Seongwoo nods. “I can’t, I have a date, another rich daughter waiting to be charmed by me, you know?” 

Seongwoo’s grin falls off his face and his expression hardens immediately. It makes Daniel uneasy as soon as he sees the change so he sits up and straightens his back, trying to get a better look at Seongwoo, who’s hand is turning white from how hard he is holding onto the door handle. 

“It’s okay, forget it,” he mutters and closes the door with a louder bang than usual, startling Daniel. 

*** 

For the rest of the day, Seongwoo acts cold towards him and Daniel, for the love of himself can’t figure out why. 

He doesn’t bring Daniel dessert or smiles at him when Daniel pats his shoulder as thanks for correcting Jaehwan, Jihoon and Woojin’s reports. When he leaves the office, he doesn’t even say goodbye to Daniel. 

It irks Daniel so much he calls Jisung up and they decide to meet up in Jisung’s office. 

“I have a problem,” Daniel announces as soon as he is in the room, pacing up and down. “Seongwoo is mad at me – or seems to be mad at me – and I don’t understand why.” 

“First of all, calm down,” Jisung advices, coming up to him and dragging him to one of the chairs. “Since when has he been like this? Tell me exactly what happened and what he has done since then.” 

“Well, we’ve been pretty close these past few months and he stayed at my house the other day, helped me out with the investing thing and we cuddled a bit, I guess?” Daniel starts to tell him. “It was pretty good until today, he asked me if we could grab dinner tomorrow.” 

“And what did you say?” Jisung responds. 

“Well, I can’t make it tomorrow, so I told him that I can’t, that I’ve got a date,” Daniel continues, scrunching up his nose as he tries to think of something else he had done wrong. “And then he just… shut off. He kept kind of avoiding me the whole day, only talking to me about work.” 

“Daniel, are you stupid?” Jisung asks, hitting him on his shoulder. “How can you just tell him you’ve got a date like that?” 

“Why? What’s wrong with that?” Daniel protests. “It’s not like I want to go on a date either, okay? I’d much rather spend my time with him, too, but it’s for the company to get the investment, how can I just not go? We could always grab dinner on another day, why does it have to be tomorrow?” 

“Because it’s his fucking birthday, you moron,” Jisung blurts out, angrily looking at him. “It’s his birthday tomorrow and he wanted to spend it with you, what do you think that means? You turned him down _and_ told him you have a date, too, probably didn’t even mention that it’s not out of your own free will. Seongwoo likes you and you obviously like him, too, and then you ruin it, great, well done!” 

“He – he doesn’t like me!” Daniel denies, shaking his head wildly. 

“Daniel, you cuddled and he looks at you like you’re the cutest thing ever,” Jisung deadpans. 

“Yeah but friends cuddle too, you cuddle Minhyun a lot too and you’re not together, so!” Daniel says, trying to prove his point. 

“Daniel, Minhyun and I are together,” Jisung tells him and Daniel’s eyes widen. “That’s why I know he likes you, Minhyun told me all about it a few days ago, said Seongwoo was a blushing mess whenever Minhyun mentioned you. 

“He likes me?” 

“Yes, moron, and you like him, too, don’t even deny it. Now you better figure out how to fix this,” Jisung sighs. “Take a day off tomorrow, maybe, go to your stupid date and ponder about how to solve this mess.” 

“But – but,” Daniel stutters. “Do I like him?” 

“Daniel,” Jisung warns. 

“I don’t – I am not capable of liking anyone Jisung!” Daniel says, anxiety rushing through him. “How can I like someone? It’s always just one-night stands, meaningless make out sessions. I am not made for liking someone, for being in love with anyone and settling down.” 

“Daniel, don’t think too far ahead, just try it out,” Jisung reassures him with a hand on his shoulder, drawing soothing circles on his skin. 

“Just try it out?” he repeats. 

“Yeah,” Jisung smiles. “Just try it out.” 

**25 th of August 2017**

Daniel stays in bed all morning, sleeping in and then just trying to let the information Jisung told him settle in. It feels surreal, feels weird to know that what he has been feeling for Seongwoo was how most people feel when they like someone – are in love? He doesn’t really get it, how just thinking about Seongwoo makes his heart thunder in his chest and a smile appear on his lips, doesn’t get how in his 21 years of life he had never felt this way. 

Then at noon he gets up, lazily gets ready for his date and drives to the restaurant. 

The girl is nice – and very pretty – he does his best to be a gentleman and give her compliments, make her feel wanted and happy, he still feels guilt in the back of his head though, guilty for using her for his own benefits and guilty for being there when he obviously would like to be somewhere else. 

At the end of the night, she kisses him on the cheek and he smiles tightly, saying goodbye with a wave as she steps into the taxi. 

As soon as he gets to his bed, he facepalms on it, willing time to go by faster so he can see Seongwoo again and they can talk everything out. 

**26 th of August 2017 **

When he comes into the office the next day - he had styled himself up perfectly in his most beloved suit and had styled his hair for almost an hour, too, he even passed by a jewelry store to buy Seongwoo a birthday present on his way to work - he is surprised to not see Seongwoo in his seat. Instead there’s Minhyun typing away on his computer. 

“What are you doing here?” he asks, taken aback. 

“Oh, good morning to you too,” Minhyun laughs. “Seongwoo wanted some days off so I have to substitute him for the next week.” 

“Days off? He never takes days off!” Daniel protests. 

“I know, probably just wanted to enjoy his birthday some more, spend it lying on his bed or something,” Minhyun shrugs and Daniel feels his heart tightening in his chest. “If you really want to see him though, you can just pass by his house later – Daniel?” 

“No time for later,” he replies back. “Cancel my meetings for today!” 

“You can’t just – Daniel, come back!” Minhyun yells but Daniel is already not listening to him. 

He rushes back to his car and starts the engine immediately. Daniel drives at top speed through the morning traffic, cursing when he notices it will take double of time than it normally would to get to Seongwoo’s apartment. His heart is racing in his chest, his legs are jittery and his palms are sweaty. He is too nervous to even properly talk and he doesn’t know why – he already knows Seongwoo likes him back, Jisung had said so himself, but there’s just something so utterly nerve wrecking at the perspective to have to confess your feelings to someone, to give them your heart and wait for them to accept it. 

Daniel sighs in relief when he finally arrives, parking his car right in front of Seongwoo’s building. He is lucky enough that one of Seongwoo’s neighbors is going out when he enters, easily letting him in. He runs up the flight of stairs and is in front of Seongwoo’s door in seconds. 

His hand reaches up to knock on the door but just before he actually does, it stops. He breathes out, trying to calm his nerves, and tries again, succeeding in knocking on it this time. 

The next few seconds are dreadful. 

Daniel looks at the door, gripping the bag with Seongwoo’s present tightly in his hands, as he shuffles his feet, unsure of whether he should knock again or not, or if he maybe should call out Seongwoo’s name or go back down and ring on the doorbell or – 

“Oh, Daniel?” Seongwoo says, sleepily rubbing his eyes. 

“I like you,” Daniel blurts out and throws the present box at Seongwoo, who clumsily catches it while staring at Daniel with wide eyes and a confused look on his face. “Here, for you. It was your birthday yesterday.” 

“Are you okay?” Seongwoo asks seriously, looking him up and down in worry. 

“Yes, I’m very good, actually,” he jumps up and down in his place, letting out a shaky breath. “So, do you like me too? Don’t you have to say something now? Kiss me senseless or let me kiss you senseless?” 

Seongwoo gapes at him. 

“Or wait – don’t you like me? Did Jisung lie to me? Did I just make a fool out of myself – oh god, I can’t do love confessions, I hate this. I should never try this again, I’m going to die – “ 

“Daniel, shut up,” Seongwoo interrupts him with a small smile. “Didn’t you have a date yesterday? How can you go on a date and then say you like me, even after turning down my offer of a date?” 

“Oh – Oh yes, I did have a date tomorrow!” Daniel nods, fidgeting with his hands. “But I didn’t want to go, you see? It was my dad’s condition for me to get the investment. I had to take her out to get the money and – and I didn’t know you meant it as a date, I promise!” 

Seongwoo just stares at him for a while, his mouth opening and closing as if he was trying to say something but wasn’t quite sure what exactly it is he wants to say. 

Daniel stands there awkwardly, his cheeks and ears burning up as he nervously bounces up and down in his place, waiting for Seongwoo to say something, waiting for Seongwoo to hopefully take mercy on him and tell him he likes him back, too. 

Suddenly, Seongwoo bends down and puts the present box on the floor right beside the door. Daniel is about to protest, say how he should look at it before putting it there, but Seongwoo interrupts him again. 

“I – I like you, too,” Seongwoo says, stepping forward and pressing his lips against Daniel’s for a soft peck, smiling into the kiss. It’s so tender and sweet it makes Daniel’s heart melt, makes him yearn for more. “But we have a lot to talk about it, about everything, so – so come in.” 

Daniel whines, stepping into Seongwoo’s entrance and taking his shoes off before taking Seongwoo in his arms, tugging at him until they are chest to chest, Seongwoo looking up at him with dazed eyes. 

“We can talk later,” Daniel smiles, kissing Seongwoo gently again before nuzzling into his shoulder, smelling Seongwoo’s distinct smell and sighing contently. “I just want to hold you and kiss you for a while, okay? Maybe cuddle?” 

“I thought you were a fuckboy but look at you,” Seongwoo giggles as he wraps around Daniel’s neck. “You’re just a soft, cuddly puppy.” 

“Shut up,” Daniel whines, biting Seongwoo’s shoulder playfully before he moves his head back up and grins at Seongwoo, who is already smiling at him with a small smile. 

“Make me,” Seongwoo challenges him. 

Daniel has never been happier to comply to a request. He leans in and kisses Seongwoo softly, their lips meeting for the sweetest kiss Daniel has ever had. It’s slow and lazy and nice and just feels so _utterly Seongwoo_. 

“I like you so, so much,” he whispers against Seongwoo’s lips. 

“I like you so, so much too,” Seongwoo giggles and Daniel can’t help but kiss him again. 

**Author's Note:**

> i know this does not 100% abide to the prompt but i still hope you enjoyed reading this!
> 
> i am so sorry if you don't :(
> 
> anyway, any comments will be appreciated! thank you so much for reading this mess!


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